Former college baseball player sues, NCAA says conferences set fixed salaries with scholarship limits

A former college baseball player is suing the NCAA and the Power Conferences, accusing the leagues of setting salaries through scholarship limits.

This week, former TCU baseball player Riley Cornelio filed a federal antitrust lawsuit in Colorado seeking class action status for college baseball and hockey players.

“Defendant and its members operate as a cartel, and limiting scholarships to artificially low levels in these sports results in wage fixing among horizontal competitors in the marketplace for services,” the complaint says. “The anticompetitive effects are as obvious as with any other wage fixing, and it is an unlawful restraint under Section 1 of the Sherman Act.”

The NCAA, Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference have reached an agreement to settle three antitrust lawsuits challenging the college’s pay rules, seeking $2.78 billion in compensation for former and current college athletes.

The settlement, which still needs to be approved by a judge, also includes a plan to allow schools to implement a revenue-sharing system with athletes and increase the number of scholarships schools can — but are not required to — award in most Division I sports. The scholarship limits would be replaced by roster limits.

“Even if this rule is ultimately repealed, there will still be damages to be done to athletes who have suffered losses,” the lawsuit reads.

Baseball’s scholarship limit was 11.7 per team. Most teams split those scholarships, leaving players with partial scholarships. Under the new proposed system, baseball rosters would be limited to 34 players, and schools could choose to fund all of them with full scholarships.

The NCAA and the conferences hope the settlement will help put an end to the relentless legal battles that have eroded the foundations of college sports over the past decade.

However, the company is still ready for challenges.

Cornelio’s lawsuit was filed by the same lawyers who are handling an antitrust case against the NCAA that has similarities to those in the settlement. In that case, former Colorado football player Alex Fontenot filed his lawsuit last November, alleging that NCAA rules illegally prevented college athletes from earning their fair share of the millions of dollars in revenue that schools generate.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs in the House case had asked to have the Fontenot case joined to another lawsuit that is part of the settlement, but a Colorado judge denied the request.